Semiconductor device, wiring substrate forming method, and substrate processing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A substrate support ( 201 ) having a flat supporting surface ( 201   a ) is prepared, and a semiconductor substrate ( 1 ) is fixed to the substrate supporting surface ( 201 ) by attaching a wiring forming surface ( 1   a ) to the supporting surface ( 201   a ) by suction, for example, by vacuum suction. On this occasion, the wiring forming surface ( 1   a ) is forcibly flattened by being attached to the supporting surface ( 201   a ) by suction, and therefore the wiring forming surface ( 1   a ) becomes a reference plane for planarization of a back surface ( 1   b ). In this state, planarization processing is performed by mechanically grinding the back surface ( 1   b ) to grind away projecting portions ( 12 ) of the back surface ( 1   b ). Hence, variations in the thickness of the substrate (especially, semiconductor substrate) are made uniform, and high-speed planarization is realized easily and inexpensively without disadvantages such as dishing and without any limitation on a wiring design.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the division of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/097,937filed on Apr. 1, 2005, which is a continuation of PCT/JP03/15808 filedon Dec. 10, 2003 and claims the benefit of priority from the priorJapanese Patent Application No. 2002-358536, filed on Dec. 10, 2002, andPCT International Application No. PCT/JP03/06382, filed on May 22, 2003,the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method of forming a multilayer wiringwith an electronic device such as an LSI on a substrate, especially asemiconductor substrate, further a method of forming a multilayer wiringfilm by forming a multilayer wiring layer on a supporting base made of ametal material or an insulating material and removing the supportingbase, a semiconductor device having a multilayer wiring, and a substrateprocessing apparatus.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, with an increase in a demand for furtherminiaturization/high-density integration, multilayer wiring formationbecomes necessary, and therefore advanced planarization technology isrequired. This planarization technology is mainly applied to asemiconductor substrate represented by a silicon wafer, and further to afilm-shaped multilayer wiring thin film which recently attractsattention and, for example, seems promising for application to SiP(silicon in Package).

Conventionally, a CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) method has beenmainly adopted as a method of planarizing an insulating layer or awiring layer formed on a silicon semiconductor substrate. In thismethod, the insulating layer or the wiring layer as a surface to beprocessed is formed relatively flatly in advance, and its surface isfinely and flatly processed chemically/mechanically with slurry(chemical polishing agent) while a flat polishing pad is pressedthereon. A hard insulating material surface or metal surface which isprovided in advance functions as a stop layer, and CMP is finished. CMPis a method which is independent of variations in semiconductorsubstrate thickness and TTV (Total Thickness Variation) defined as adifference between a maximum thickness and a minimum thickness.

In addition to the CMP method, several planarization methods, forexample, using a cutting tool are thought out (See Patent Documents 1,2, 3, and 4, for example). However, they are directed to planarizationof an SOG film of a partial region on an LSI, and similarly to CMP, theyare methods in which cutting is performed with a surface to be cut as areference and independent of TTV of the semiconductor substrate.

On the other hand, it is thought that in a mounting substrate requiredto realize SiP, only a thin film wiring layer is used as an interposerto form the mounting substrate inexpensively and simply. Conventionally,a thin-film multilayer wiring substrate without any through-hole formedby preparing plural resin films, in each of which via holes filled witha conductive paste and wirings are formed, and stacking themcollectively in a final process is developed. This wiring substrate canbe realized at low cost, but scaling down is difficult since the viadiameter is approximately between 120 μm and 200 μm, L/S (Line/Space) isapproximately between 100 μm/100 μm and 200 μm/200 μm. Hence, to realizeboth scaling down and low cost, it is effective to separate a multilayerwiring thin film formed on the substrate and make it of a substrate.

Fine planarization can be realized if the CMP method is used, but itsprocess requires a high manufacturing cost since a processing apparatusis expensive and throughput is low. When a metal such as copper and aninsulator are planarized at the same time, a hollow called dishingsometimes occurs in a portion where a pattern is sparse. From the needfor avoiding this occurrence of dishing, the size of a wiring pattern inan LSI or the like is restricted, so that such an arrangement that ablank portion of the pattern is not formed is required.

On the other hand, for the aforementioned formation of the multilayerwiring thin film, it is necessary to first form the multilayer wiringthin film on a supporting base and strip off or remove the supportingbase. As a method of stripping it off, there is a method of coating onlya peripheral portion of the substrate with an adhesion improvingmaterial using the fact that the adhesiveness between an insulatingresin of the multilayer wiring thin film and the supporting base is lowand separating the portion coated with the adhesion improving materialand a portion uncoated therewith after the formation of a wiring layeris completed to thereby separate the multilayer wiring thin film fromthe supporting base. This stripping method is, so to speak, the image ofstripping off a film, and has a possibility of causing damage to acircuit. On the other hand, the method of removing the supporting baseis a method of, for example, if the supporting base is a semiconductorsubstrate, removing it by grinding and etching. Moreover, if a metalplate made of Al or Cu is the supporting base, it is removed by etching.

Even if either of these methods is adopted, the supporting base itselfis reflected in cost, in addition, if the supporting base is asemiconductor substrate in the latter method, a residue after grindingall becomes rubbish, and an enormous amount of rubbish is producedthrough the process, so that a bad influence on the environment cannotbe ignored.

(Patent Document 1) Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei7-326614

(Patent Document 2) Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei8-11049

(Patent Document 3) Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei9-82616

(Patent Document 4) Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.2000-173954

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is made in view of the aforementioned problems,and considering that it is mainly directed to machining other than CMPrepresented as a planarization method, variations in the thickness of asubstrate (especially, a semiconductor substrate and aconductor/insulating substrate) are made uniform, and high-speedplanarization is realized easily and inexpensively without disadvantagessuch as dishing and without any limitation on a wiring design. Moreover,an object of the present invention is to provide a wiring substrateforming method and a semiconductor device, and a substrate processingapparatus capable of, when a multilayer wiring thin film is obtained asa single body by finally removing the substrate, easily performing finecontrol of thicknesses of respective wiring layers composing themultilayer wiring thin film and removing the substrate efficiently atlow cost to realize the wiring thin film having a fine wiring structure.

A wiring substrate forming method of the present invention is a methodof forming a wiring on a substrate including the steps of: with a wiringforming surface of the substrate as a reference, subjecting a backsurface of the wiring forming surface to planarization processing byfirst machining; forming the wiring and an insulating film which coversthe wiring on the wiring forming surface; and performing planarizationprocessing by second machining with the back surface as a reference insuch a manner that a surface of the wiring and a surface of theinsulating film become continuously flat.

A wiring substrate forming method of the present invention includes thesteps of: making a thickness of a supporting base uniform by firstmachining; forming a wiring and an insulating film which covers thewiring on a front surface of the supporting base whose thickness is madeuniform; performing planarization processing by second machining in sucha manner that a surface of the wiring and a surface of the insulatingfilm become continuously flat to form a wiring layer composed of thewiring and the insulating film; and forming a wiring thin film having auniform thickness which includes the wiring layer by removing thesupporting base.

A semiconductor device of the present invention is a semiconductordevice including: a semiconductor substrate; a semiconductor elementformed on a front surface of the semiconductor substrate; and amultilayer wiring formed by stacking respective wirings in plural layersin an insulator, wherein machining is performed on a side of a backsurface of the front surface, on which the semiconductor element isformed, with the front surface as a reference to planarize the backsurface and make substrate thickness uniform.

A substrate processing apparatus of the present invention is a substrateprocessing apparatus when a wiring is formed on a substrate, including:a substrate support which has a flat supporting surface and fixedlysupports the substrate by attaching its one surface to the supportingsurface by suction, forcibly using the one surface as a flat referenceplane; and a tool which subjects the other surface of the substratefixedly supported by the substrate support to cutting, whereinplanarization processing is performed in such a manner that a surface ofthe wiring and a surface of an insulating film become continuously flatby subjecting the other surface of the substrate to cutting by the tool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A to FIG. 1E are schematic sectional views showing a multilayerwiring substrate forming method according to a first embodiment step bystep;

FIG. 2A to FIG. 2C are schematic sectional views showing the multilayerwiring substrate forming method according to the first embodiment stepby step;

FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C are schematic sectional views showing the multilayerwiring substrate forming method according to the first embodiment stepby step;

FIG. 4A to FIG. 4C are schematic sectional views showing the multilayerwiring substrate forming method according to the first embodiment stepby step;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a concrete example of respectiveplanarization processes in FIG. 2A, FIG. 3A, and FIG. 4B;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing another concrete example of therespective planarization processes in FIG. 2A, FIG. 3A, and FIG. 4B;

FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view showing a comparative example ofthe first embodiment;

FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are structural views of a grinding apparatus;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the structure of a cutting apparatus;

FIG. 10A to FIG. 10G are schematic structural views showing thestructure of the cutting apparatus;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural view showing the arrangement ofrespective sections of the cutting apparatus;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a cutting process;

FIG. 13 is a schematic perspective view showing a general view of asemiconductor device to which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 14 is a schematic plan view showing a general view of asemiconductor device to which the present invention is applied and whichis disclosed in this embodiment;

FIG. 15A to FIG. 15D are schematic sectional views showing amanufacturing method of a semiconductor device including a multilayerwiring according to a second embodiment step by step;

FIG. 16A to FIG. 16C are schematic sectional views showing themanufacturing method of the semiconductor device including themultilayer wiring according to the second embodiment step by step;

FIG. 17A to FIG. 17C are schematic sectional views showing themanufacturing method of the semiconductor device including themultilayer wiring according to the second embodiment step by step;

FIG. 18A to FIG. 18C are schematic sectional views showing themanufacturing method of the semiconductor device including themultilayer wiring according to the second embodiment step by step;

FIG. 19A to FIG. 19C are schematic sectional views showing themanufacturing method of the semiconductor device including themultilayer wiring according to the second embodiment step by step;

FIG. 20A and FIG. 20B are schematic sectional views showing a statewhere an MOS transistor is formed in a element region;

FIG. 21 is a schematic sectional view showing a main process of amodification example of the manufacturing method of the semiconductordevice including the multilayer wiring according to the secondembodiment;

FIG. 22A to FIG. 22C are schematic sectional views showing a multilayerwiring substrate forming method according to a third embodiment step bystep;

FIG. 23A to FIG. 23C are schematic sectional views showing themultilayer wiring substrate forming method according to the thirdembodiment step by step;

FIG. 24A to FIG. 24C are schematic sectional views showing a multilayerwiring substrate forming method according to a fourth embodiment step bystep; and

FIG. 25A and FIG. 25B are schematic sectional views showing themultilayer wiring substrate forming method according to the fourthembodiment step by step.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

-Basic Gist of the Present Invention-

First, the basic gist of the present invention will be described.

It is premised that the present invention is mainly directed tomachining other than CMP which is represented, for example, by cuttingwith a tool as a planarization method. Metals such as copper, aluminum,and nickel and an insulating material such as polyimide are materialswhich are easily cut by the tool. Wirings and an insulating film whichare made of these materials on a semiconductor substrate can beplanarized easily and at high speed by cutting. Moreover, no dishingoccurs in cutting.

The problem when cutting is used for planarizing a semiconductorsubstrate represented by a silicon wafer is that cutting is performedwith a rear surface (back surface) of the substrate as a reference.Generally, the TTV of a silicon substrate is within a range from 1 μm to5 μm, and in an LSI process, a TTV of approximately 5 μm does not exertany influence on photolithography, and therefore it is usually exceptedfrom consideration. However, cutting is greatly influenced by the valueof TTV. The flatness accuracy by cutting never reaches the value of TTVor less. Accordingly, when cutting is used for planarizing thesemiconductor substrate, it is necessary first of all to control the TTVof the substrate at a target cutting accuracy or less.

In view of the aforementioned circumstances, the present inventor comesup with the idea of, before forming wirings and an insulating film,first grinding a back surface with a front surface which becomes awiring forming surface as a reference to keep the TTV of a semiconductorsubstrate low at a target cutting accuracy or less. In this case, it isideal to reduce the TTV and keep variations in the thickness of eachindividual semiconductor substrate at the cutting accuracy or less.However, if only the TTV can be reduced, the thickness of eachsemiconductor substrate can be detected at the time of cutting. Theamount of cutting can be controlled by this detection of the thicknessof each semiconductor substrate.

Moreover, in the present invention, the aforementioned cuttingtechnology is applied to the formation of a film-shaped multilayerwiring thin film. Namely, it is used for a case where after wiringlayers are stacked on a supporting base made of an insulating materialor a conductive material to form a multilayer wiring thin film, thesupporting base is removed, and only the multilayer wiring thin film canbe used as an interposer. In this case, a metal plate or an insulatingplate is used as the supporting base, whereby a planarization(uniformization of thickness) process of the supporting base as apreceding process to form a wiring layer can be performed by cutting.Then, a planarization processing at the time of formation of respectivewiring layers can be performed by cutting, and further also in asupporting base removing process, the supporting base can be removed bycutting. As just described, all of the planarization of the supportingbase, planarization at the time of formation of respective wiringlayers, and successive cutting of the supporting base can be performedby cutting with a tool, which realizes high-precision planarization ofthe respective wiring layers and removal of the base easily and at highspeed.

Further, if the supporting base is the insulating plate, it becomespossible to, using easy, high-speed, and high-precision planarizationcontrollability of cutting, planarize the supporting base leaving onlyany given thickness and use this left supporting base as an insulatinglayer. Furthermore, if the supporting base is the metal plate, itbecomes possible to collect chippings produced by cutting and reuse themfor the formation of the supporting base.

Specific Embodiments

Based on the aforementioned basic gist, specific embodiments of thepresent invention will be described below using the drawings.

First Embodiment

Here, a silicon semiconductor substrate (silicon wafer) is shown as anexample of a substrate, and a case where a multilayer wiring formed bystaking wirings in plural layers in an insulator is formed on thesemiconductor substrate is disclosed.

FIG. 1A to FIG. 1E, FIG. 2A to FIG. 2C, FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C, and FIG. 4Ato FIG. 4C are schematic sectional views showing a multilayer wiringsubstrate forming method according to this embodiment step by step.

First, as shown in FIG. 1A, a silicon semiconductor substrate 1 isprepared. Usually, the silicon semiconductor substrate is not uniform inthickness as shown and besides has undulations.

Hence, as a preceding process to subject one principal surface of thesemiconductor substrate 1, here a substrate front surface (wiringforming surface 1 a), to cutting with a tool which will be describedlater, the other principal surface of the semiconductor substrate 1,here a back surface 1 b (of the wiring forming surface 1 a), isplanarized.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 1B, a substrate support 201 having aflat supporting surface 201 a is prepared, and the semiconductorsubstrate 1 is fixed to the substrate support 201 by attaching thewiring forming surface 1 a to the supporting surface 201 a by suction,for example, by vacuum suction. On this occasion, the wiring formingsurface 1 a is forcibly flattened by being attached to the supportingsurface 201 a by suction, and therefore the wiring forming surface 1 abecomes a reference plane for planarization of the back surface 1 b. Inthis state, planarization processing is performed by subjecting the backsurface 1 b to machining, here grinding, to grind away projectingportions 12 of the back surface 1 b. In this case, it is desirable tocontrol the amount of cutting of the back surface 1 b according to adistance from the wiring forming surface 1 a. Hence, control isperformed in such a manner that the thickness of the semiconductorsubstrate 1 becomes uniform, more specifically, the TTV (differencebetween a maximum thickness and a minimum thickness of the substrate)becomes a predetermined value or less, and still more specifically, theTTV becomes 1 μm or less.

Then, as shown in FIG. 1C, the semiconductor substrate 1 is detachedfrom the substrate support 201, a photosensitive resin, for example, aphotosensitive polyimide 13 is applied onto the wiring forming surface 1a of the semiconductor substrate 1, and this photosensitive polyimide 13is processed by photolithography to form a predetermined electrodepattern 13 a.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1D, a metal, for example, a copper film isformed on the wiring forming surface 1 a in such a manner as to coverthe photosensitive polyimide 13, for example, by a sputtering method tothereby form a seed layer 2.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 1E, with the seed layer 2 as anelectrode, copper is deposited so as to have such a thickness that thephotosensitive polyimide 13 is embedded therein by a plating method tothereby form a ground (GND) electrode 3.

Then, the wiring forming surface 1 a is subjected to cutting with a toolto be planarized.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2A, the semiconductor substrate 1 isfixed to the substrate support 11 by attaching the back surface 1 b ofthe semiconductor substrate 1 to a supporting surface 11 a of asubstrate support 11, for example, by vacuum suction. On this occasion,the semiconductor substrate 1 is made uniform in thickness by theplanarization processing in FIG. 1B and undulations and the like areforcibly eliminated by the attachment by suction in FIG. 2A, whereby theback surface 1 b becomes a reference plane for planarization of thewiring forming surface 1 a. In this state, a surface layer of the GNDelectrode 3 on the wiring forming surface 1 a is subjected to machining,here cutting with a tool 10 made of diamond or the like and therebyplanarized.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2B. a photoresist 14 is applied onto theplanarized GND electrode 3, and by processing the photoresist 14 byphotolithography, a predetermined via pattern 14 a is formed. Then, viaportions 4 are formed by embedding copper or the like in openings of thevia pattern 14 a by the plating method.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 2C, for example, after the photoresist 14is stripped off, an insulating resin 5 is formed on the wiring formingsurface 1 a in such a manner as to cover and fill up the via portions 4.

Then, the wiring forming surface 1 a is subjected again to cutting withthe tool and planarized.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3A, the semiconductor substrate 1 isfixed to the substrate support 11 by attaching the back surface 1 b tothe supporting surface 11 a of the substrate support 11, for example, byvacuum suction. On this occasion, similarly to the above, the backsurface 1 b becomes a reference plane for the planarization of thewiring forming surface 1 a. In this state, surface layers of the viaportions 5 and the insulating resin 5 on the wiring forming surface 1 aare planarized by being subjected to machining, here cutting with thetool 10 while the semiconductor substrate 1 is being rotated at arotation speed approximately between 800 rpm and 1600 rpm. As a resultof this planarization processing, a via layer 21 having a uniformthickness from which upper surfaces of the via portions 4 are exposedand in which the via portions 4 are embedded in the insulating resin 5is formed.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 3B, after a copper film is deposited onsurfaces of the planarized via portions 4 and insulating resin 5 by thesputtering method to form a seed layer 6, a first photoresist 15 isapplied, and by processing this first photoresist 5 by photolithography,a predetermined wiring pattern 15 a is formed. Then, with the seed layer6 as an electrode, the wiring pattern 15 a portion of the firstphotoresist 5 is filled by the plating method to form wirings 7.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3C, after the first photoresist 15 isremoved, for example, using an alkaline stripping solution, a secondphotoresist 16 is applied onto the wirings 7 so as to fill up them, andby processing this second photoresist 16 by photolithography, apredetermined via pattern 16 a is formed. Copper or the like is embeddedin the via pattern 16 a by the plating method to form via portions 8.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4A, after the second photoresist 16 and the seedlayer 6 are removed, for example, by the alkaline stripping solution, aninsulating resin 9 is formed on the wiring forming surface 1 a so as tocover and fill up the wirings 7 and the via portions 8.

Thereafter, the wiring forming surface 1 a is subjected again to cuttingwith the tool to be planarized.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4B, the semiconductor substrate 1 isfixed to the substrate support 11 by attaching the back surface 1 b tothe supporting surface 11 a of the substrate support 11, for example, byvacuum suction. On this occasion, similarly to the above, the backsurface 1 b becomes a reference plane for the planarization of thewiring forming surface 1 a. In this state, surface layers of the viaportions 8 and the insulating resin 9 on the wiring forming surface 1 aare planarized by being subjected to machining. Incidentally, here,cutting with the tool 10 as an example of the machining is performed. Asa result of this planarization processing, a first wiring layer 22 whosethickness is made uniform in which the wirings 7 and the via portions 8connected thereto are embedded in the insulating resin 9 so that uppersurfaces of the via portions 8 are exposed therefrom is formed.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4C, in the same manner as the formation of thefist wiring layer 22, that is, by undergoing the same series ofprocesses as in FIG. 3B, FIG. 3C, FIG. 4A, and FIG. 4B several times, astacked structure in which wiring and via portions connected thereto areembedded in insulating resins is formed. A second wiring layer 23 whosethickness is made uniform and in which wirings 31 and via portions 32connected thereto are embedded in an insulating resin 33 and wirings 34formed on this second wiring layer 23 are shown as an example.

Thereafter, through the formation of a protective film (not shown) whichcovers the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate 1, a multilayerwiring structure is finished on the semiconductor substrate 1.

Incidentally, in this embodiment, an explanation is given regarding onesemiconductor substrate, but it is also possible to perform respectiveprocesses of this embodiment on plural semiconductor substrates whichcompose a lot to make the thicknesses of respective semiconductorsubstrates uniform. Consequently, for example, it becomes possible toperform processing such as cutting on respective substrates in one andthe same lot under the same condition.

Moreover, in each of the planarization processes in FIG. 2A, FIG. 3A,and FIG. 4B, correcting of parallelism of the semiconductor substrate 1is performed with the back surface 1 b as a reference, the position ofthe wiring forming surface 1 a is detected, and the amount of cutting iscalculated from the detected position of the wiring forming surface 1 ato thereby control the tool 10.

More specifically, the “correcting of parallelism” is performed, asshown in FIG. 5, by irradiating a laser beam 17 a to the insulatingresins 5 and 9 and the photosensitive polyimide 13 (the seed layer 2 insome cases) in plural points, for example, three points A, B, and C hereof a peripheral portion of the wiring forming surface 1 a when theposition of the wiring forming surface 1 a is detected using a laserbeam irradiating unit 17, thereby scattering these resins and poyimide,and exposing a part of the wiring forming surface 1 a.

Further in this case, as shown in FIG. 6, it is also possible to, whenthe position of the wiring forming surface 1 a is detected, fix thesemiconductor substrate 1 to the substrate support 11, in which anopening 11 b is formed, by suction, irradiate an infrared laser beam tothe back surface 1 b from the opening 11 b using an infrared laser beamirradiator 18, and measure a reflected light from the wiring formingsurface 1 a using this infrared laser beam irradiator 18 (or a laserbeam measuring device provided in the neighborhood thereof).

A comparative example of this embodiment is shown here in FIG. 7. Inthis comparative example, a case where a multilayer wiring structure 202is formed on a semiconductor substrate 201 without performing theplanarization processing of this embodiment is shown as an example. Whenthe planarization processing is not performed as just described,irregularities in an upper surface become remarkable as the number ofwiring layers increases, which hinders multilayer wiring formation.

As compared with this, in this embodiment, after the back surface 1 b ofthe semiconductor substrate 1 is first subjected to planarizationprocessing with the wiring forming surface 1 a as a reference, based onthis, the via layer 21 and the respective wiring layers 22 and 23 eachhaving a uniform thickness are formed in sequence on the wiring formingsurface 1 a with the back surface 1 b as a reference, and hence even ifmany wiring layers are further stacked, a fine wiring structure isrealized without impairing flatness while the occurrence ofirregularities is prevented.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, variations in thethickness of the semiconductor substrate 1 are made uniform, anddisadvantages such as dishing do not occur. As a result, high-speedplanarization becomes possible easily and inexpensively without anylimitation on a wiring design. Moreover, a fine multilayer wiringstructure can be realized easily and finely.

[Structure of Grinding Apparatus]

A specific device structure to execute the grinding process explainedusing FIG. 1B is explained here.

FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B show the structure of a grinding apparatus, FIG. 8Ais a plan view, and FIG. 8B is a side view.

This grinding apparatus includes a housing section 202 to house thesemiconductor substrate (semiconductor wafer) 1, a hand section 203 totransfer the semiconductor substrate 1 to respective processingsections, a turntable 204 on which the semiconductor substrate 1 isfixedly mounted at the time of grinding, and a grinder section 205 togrind the semiconductor substrate 1.

The housing section 202 includes a housing cassette 211 in which pluralsemiconductor substrates 1 are housed, and the respective semiconductorsubstrates 1 are housed as shown in FIG. 8B.

The hand section 203 includes a transfer hand 212, takes thesemiconductor substrate 1 out of the housing cassette 211, transfers itto the turntable 204 in the example shown, and also transfers theprocessed semiconductor substrate 1 from the turntable 204 to thehousing section 202.

The turntable 204 includes plural (three here) chuck tables 213 to chuckthe semiconductor substrate on its front surface, and it is rotatable,for example, in a direction of an arrow M in FIG. 8B.

The grinder section 205 is provided with a detachable grindstone 214 onits lower surface, and grinds the front surface of the semiconductorsubstrate 1 chucked by the chuck table 213, for example, in a directionof an arrow N in FIG. 8B while the grindstone 214 is in contact with thefront surface of the semiconductor substrate 1. Here, two kinds ofgrindstones, for example, different in roughness are prepared for thegrindstone 214.

To perform grinding using this grinding apparatus, first, thesemiconductor substrate 1 is taken out of the housing section 202 by thetransfer hand 212 of the hand section 203 and fixedly mounted on thechuck table 213 of the turntable 204. Then, the grindstone 214 of thegrinder section 205 is brought into contact with the front surface ofthe semiconductor substrate 1 and grinds the front surface. At thistime, the front surface is first ground by a rough-grained grindstone,and thereafter ground by a fine-grained grindstone for finishing. Then,the semiconductor substrate 1 which has undergone finishing grinding isdismounted from the chuck table 213 and housed in the housing section202 by the transfer hand 212.

[Structure of Cutting Apparatus]

A specific device structure to execute the cutting process explainedusing FIG. 2A, FIG. 3A, and FIG. 4B is explained here.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the structure of the cuttingapparatus, and FIG. 10A to FIG. 10G are schematic structural views ofthe same.

This cutting apparatus includes a housing section 101 (FIG. 9, FIG. 10A)to house the semiconductor substrate (semiconductor wafer) 1 therein, ahand section 102 (FIG. 9, FIG. 10B, FIG. 10C) to transfer thesemiconductor substrate 1 to the respective processing sections, a chucktable section 103 (FIG. 9, FIG. 10D) to chuck the semiconductorsubstrate 1 at the time of cutting, a sensing section 104 (FIG. 9, FIG.10E) to perform positioning of the semiconductor substrate 1, a cuttingsection 105 (FIG. 9, FIG. 10F) to perform cutting for planarizing thesemiconductor substrate 1, a cleaning section 106 (FIG. 9, FIG. 10G) toperform cleaning after cutting, a photosensor section 107 (FIG. 9, FIG.10D) to photograph a cutting state, and a control section 108 (FIG. 9)to control these sections. Note that FIG. 10A to FIG. 10G are detaildrawings of the respective sections, and for convenience, theinstallation direction, scale, and so on are not exact.

The housing section 101 includes a housing cassette 111 in which pluralsemiconductor substrates 1 are housed, an elevator mechanism 112 toraise/lower the semiconductor substrate 1 to a height at which atransfer hand 114 takes it out, and a Z-axis drive part 113 to drive theraising and lowering of this elevator mechanism.

The hand section 102 includes a transfer hand 114 to take thesemiconductor substrate 1 out of the housing cassette 111, hold it byvacuum suction, and transfer it to the sensing section 104, and aΘ1-axis drive part 115 a, a Θ2-axis (second rotation axis) drive part115 b, and a Θ3-axis drive part 115C to drive the transfer hand 114 by aΘ1-axis (first rotation axis) to a Θ3-axis (third rotation axis), and aZ-axis drive part 115 d to drive the transfer hand 114 by a Z-axis. Thetransfer hand 114 is a SCARA robot and enables easy delivery to therespective processing sections. Incidentally, the robot mechanism of thetransfer hand 114 is not limited to this, and, for example, anorthogonal X-Y axes type is also available.

The chuck table section 103 includes a substrate support (rotary table)11 to fixedly mount the semiconductor substrate 1 thereon, for example,by vacuum suction and freely rotate the semiconductor substrate 1 at apredetermined rotation speed and a rotation drive part 116 to drive thissubstrate support 11. The substrate support 11 fixes the semiconductorsubstrate by a vacuum mechanism. This substrate support 11 becomes areference plane for processing. Accordingly, in order to maintainflatness accuracy at the time of fixing and processing, it is desirableto use a porous material as a material for a chuck surface (fixedlysupporting surface) and chuck the entire surface of the semiconductorsubstrate 1. A metal-based, ceramic-based, or resin-based material isused as a material for a portion including the chuck surface. In thisembodiment, at the time of cutting of the front surface of thesemiconductor substrate 1, the semiconductor substrate 1 which isfixedly mounted on the substrate support 11 is cut while being rotatedat a rotation speed approximately between 800 rpm and 1600 rpm.

The sensing section 104 includes a CCD camera 117, a rotary table 118 tofixedly mount the semiconductor substrate 1 thereon and freely rotatethe semiconductor substrate 1 at a predetermined rotation speed, and arotation drive part 119 to drive this rotary table 118, and an image ofan outer periphery of the semiconductor substrate 1 mounted on therotary table 118 is taken by the CCD camera 117.

The cutting section 105 includes a hard tool 10 which is a cutting toolmade of diamond or the like, and has an X-stage 120 and a Y-stage 121where the tool 10 is placed, an X-axis drive part 122 to drive the tool10 in an X-direction (shown by an arrow M in FIG. 10E) by the X-axisstage 120, and a Y-axis drive part 123 to drive the tool 10 in aY-direction (shown by an arrow N in FIG. 10E) by the Y-axis stage 121.

The cleaning section 106 includes a spin table 124 to rotate thesemiconductor substrate 1 at a predetermined rotation speed while fixingit by vacuum, a rotation drive part 125 to rotationally drive the spintable 124, and a nozzle 126 to discharge cleaning water to the frontsurface of the semiconductor substrate 1, and the cleaning water isdischarged to the front surface of the semiconductor substrate 1 fromthe nozzle 126 while the semiconductor substrate 1 is being rotatedwhile fixed by vacuum by the spin table 124 to thereby rinse away dustparticles remaining on the front surface after processing. Thereafter,the semiconductor substrate 1 is rotated at high speed by the spin table124 while air is being blown, and dried while the cleaning waterremaining on the front surface of the substrate is thrown off.

The photosensor section 107 includes a light-transmitting part 127 and alight-receiving part 128 which are placed facing the semiconductorsubstrate 1 fixedly mounted on the substrate support 11 of the chucktable section 103. The light-transmitting part 127 is placed on oneside, and the light-receiving part 128 is placed on the other side.

The control section 108 includes a drive control section 129 whichcontrols the Z-axis control section 113 of the housing section 101, theΘ1-axis to Θ3-axis drive parts 115 a to 115 c and the Z-axis drive part115 d of the hand section 102, the rotation drive part 116 of the chucktable section 103, the rotation drive part 119 of the sensing section104, the X-axis drive part 122 and the Y-axis drive part 123 of thecutting section 105 and the rotation drive part 125 of the cleaningsection 106 respectively, a detecting part 130 which detects lighttransmission and light reception of the photosensor section 107, acomputing part 131 which calculates a center position of thesemiconductor substrate 1 using a result of the image taken by the CCDcamera 117 of the sensing section 104 and measures and computes the sizeof the semiconductor substrate 1 together with the photosensor section107, a main control part 132 which collectively controls the drivecontrol part 129, the detecting part 130, and the computing part 131, adisplay part 133 which displays a control state and so on of the maincontrol part 132, and a movement instructing part 134 which givesvarious drive instructions to the main control part 132.

The cutting process will be explained using FIG. 11 and FIG. 12.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing the arrangement of the housingsection 101, the chuck table section 103, the sensing section 104, thecutting section 105 and the cleaning section 106 with the hand section102 as a center. Here, the photosensor 107 and the control section 108are not shown.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing this cutting process.

First, the transfer hand 114 of the hand section 102 takes thesemiconductor substrate 1 out of the housing cassette 111 of the housingsection 101 in which the semiconductor substrate 1 is housed (step S1).By the elevator mechanism 112 of the housing section 101, thesemiconductor substrate 1 is raised or lowered to the height at whichthe transfer hand 114 takes it out.

Then, the transfer hand 114 transfer the semiconductor substrate 1 tothe sensing section 104 while holding the semiconductor substrate 1 byvacuum. In the sensing section 104, the semiconductor substrate 1 isrotated by 360° by the rotary table 118, the image of the outerperiphery of the semiconductor substrate 1 is taken by the CCD camera117, and a result thereof is processed by the computing part 131 of thecontrol section 108 to thereby calculate the center position of thesemiconductor substrate 1 (step S2).

Thereafter, the transfer hand 114 corrects the center position based ona calculated result of the center position and transfers thesemiconductor substrate 1 to the chuck table section 103, and thesubstrate support 11 fixes it by vacuum (step S3). This substratesupport 11 becomes a reference plane for processing. Accordingly, inorder to maintain flatness accuracy at the time of fixing andprocessing, it is desirable to use a porous material as a material for achuck surface and chuck the entire surface of the semiconductorsubstrate 1. A metal-based, ceramic-based, or resin-based material isused as the material. The light-transmitting part 127 and thelight-receiving part 128 are placed facing the upper and lower sides ofthe chucked semiconductor substrate 1, respectively, measure and computethe size of the semiconductor substrate 1 together with the controlsection, feed back a result there of to the X-axis control part 122 ofthe cutting section 105, and the amount of movement for cutting isinstructed. Here, when a cutting surface is a wiring forming surface,specifically as shown in FIG. 5, it is desirable that a laser beam isirradiated to scatter a resist mask by heating to thereby expose thefront surface. Then, the position is measured by a reflection-typesensor using an infrared laser beam such as shown in FIG. 6.Incidentally, a transmission type sensor may be used for theaforementioned measurement of the position.

Thereafter, based on the aforementioned computed result (substratesize), the tool 10 for cutting moves in the direction of the same arrowM as in FIG. 10F by the X-axis stage 120 and starts cutting (step S4).If the amount of cutting reaches a set value, cutting to reach a setsize is completed (step S5).

Subsequently, the transfer hand 114 dismounts the semiconductorsubstrate 1 from the substrate support 11 (step S6) and transfers it tothe cleaning section 106. In the cleaning section 106, dust particlesremaining on the front surface of the semiconductor substrate 1 afterprocessing is rinsed away by the cleaning water discharged from thenozzle 126 while the semiconductor substrate 1 is being rotated whilefixed by vacuum by the spin table 124. Thereafter, the semiconductorsubstrate 1 is rotated at high speed while air is being blown, and driedwhile the cleaning water is thrown off (step S7). After having beendried, the semiconductor substrate 1 is taken out again by the transferhand and finally housed in the housing cassette 111 of the housingsection 101 (step S8).

In this embodiment, after, with the wiring forming surface on which thewirings and the insulating film are formed as a reference, the backsurface thereof is ground by the aforementioned grinding apparatus, thesurfaces of respective wirings and the surface of the insulating filmare subjected to planarization processing with the back surface as areference by the aforementioned cutting apparatus.

Second Embodiment

Here, a silicon semiconductor substrate is shown as an example of asubstrate, and a case where a multilayer wiring layer formed by stackinga plurality of wiring layers each composed of wirings in an insulator isformed when an LSI is manufactured is disclosed.

Among semiconductor devices including a multilayer wiring layer arethose which have forms such as shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14. In thesemiconductor device in FIG. 13, electrodes 63 a are formed so as tosurround a periphery of an element region 302 where plural (many)semiconductor elements (MOS transistors or the like) are formed in asilicon semiconductor substrate 301, and the respective semiconductorelements and the electrodes 63 a are electrically connected. On theother hand, in the semiconductor device in FIG. 14, plural electrodes 63a are formed in matrix in the semiconductor substrate 301, and plural(many) semiconductor elements are formed between the electrodes 63 a.Namely, in the case of FIG. 14, regions between the electrodes 63 abecome an element region 303. The present invention is applicable toboth of the semiconductor devices in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14, but in thefollowing explanation, for convenience, the semiconductor device havingthe form shown in FIG. 14 is shown as an example, and, for example,schematic sections taken along the dashed line I-I in FIG. 14 will beshown in and after FIG. 15A.

FIG. 15A to FIG. 15D, FIG. 16A to FIG. 16C, FIG. 17A to FIG. 17C, FIG.18A to FIG. 18C, and FIG. 19A to FIG. 19C are schematic sectional viewsshowing a manufacturing method of the semiconductor device including amultilayer wiring according to this embodiment step by step.

As shown in FIG. 15A, the silicon semiconductor substrate 1 is prepared,and formed in sequence on the front surface (wiring forming surface 1 a)of the substrate are an impurity diffusion region 61 in which impuritydiffusion layers of respective semiconductor elements are formed, LSIwirings 63 embedded in an insulating layer 62, for example, made of aninorganic substance on the insulating diffusion region 61, and aprotective film 64 formed on the LSI wirings 63 in such a manner thatthe surfaces of the electrodes 63 a of the LSI wiring 63 are exposed.Incidentally, in the example shown, regions between the adjacentelectrodes 63 a (and LSI wirings 63) become the element region 303 inFIG. 14. In this case, the element region 303 is the sum of therespective regions between the adjacent electrodes 63 a.

Here, the respective semiconductor elements are not shown in FIG. 15Afor convenience. To be more exact, as shown in FIG. 20A, plural (many)semiconductor elements, here MOS transistors 304, are formed in theelement region 303. As shown in FIG. 20B, in each of the MOS transistors304, a gate electrode 312 is formed in a pattern on the surface of theelement region 303 with a gate insulating film 311 therebetween, andimpurities are introduced into the impurity diffusion region 61 on bothsides of the gate electrode 312 to from a pair of impurity diffusionlayers 313 which become source/drain. Wirings 114 are formed in apattern so as to be connected to the respective impurity diffusionlayers 313 on the surface of the element region 303, and there wirings314 compose part of the LSI wirings 63. Incidentally, the impuritydiffusion region 61 is a region where many impurity diffusion layers ofmany MOS transistors are formed, and in actuality, there are portionswhere the impurity diffusion layers exist and portions where no impuritydiffusion layer exists, but for convenience in the illustration, thisregion is collectively expressed as the impurity diffusion region.

Extremely many MOS transistors 304 are formed even in only one regionbetween the adjacent electrodes 63 a, so that the MOS transistors 304are omitted in and after FIG. 15A for convenience.

As a preceding process to subject the wiring forming surface 1 a onwhich the MOS transistors 304, the LSI wirings 63, the protective film64, and so on are formed to cutting with the tool described above, theback surface 1 b of the wiring forming surface 1 a is planarized.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 15B, a substrate support 201 havinga flat supporting surface 201 a is prepared, and the semiconductorsubstrate 1 is fixed to the substrate support 201 by attaching thewiring forming surface 1 a to the supporting surface 201 a by suction,for example, by vacuum suction. On this occasion, the wiring formingsurface 1 a is forcibly flattened by being attached by suction to thesupporting surface 201 a by suction, and therefore the wiring formingsurface 1 a becomes a reference plane for planarization of the backsurface 1 b. In this state, planarization processing is performed bysubjecting the back surface 1 b to machining, here grinding, to grindaway the projecting portions 12 of the back surface 1 b. In this case,it is desirable to control the amount of cutting of the back surface 1 baccording to a distance from the wiring forming surface 1 a. Hence,control is performed in such a manner that the thickness of thesemiconductor substrate 1 becomes uniform, more specifically, the TTV(difference between a maximum thickness and a minimum thickness of thesubstrate) becomes 1 μm or less.

Then, as shown in FIG. 15C, the semiconductor substrate 1 is detachedfrom the substrate support 201, a photosensitive resin, for example, thephotosensitive polyimide 13 is applied onto the wiring forming surface 1a of the semiconductor substrate 1, and the photosensitive polyimide 13is processed by photolithography to form a wiring pattern 13 b havingsuch a form that some of the electrodes 63 a of the LSI wirings 63 areexposed.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 15D, a metal, for example, a copper film (agold film is also possible but hereinafter an explanation will be givenusing copper) is formed on the wiring forming surface 1 a in such amanner as to cover the photosensitive polyimide 13, for example, by thesputtering method to thereby form the seed layer 2.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 16A, a photoresist 92 is applied onto thewiring forming surface 1 a, the photoresist 92 is processed byphotolithography, openings are formed in a predetermined pattern in thephotoresist 92, and thereafter with the seed layer 2 as an electrode,copper is deposited by the plating method.

Then, as shown in FIG. 16B, after the photoresist 92 is stripped off,the seed layer 2 is removed by etching with the deposited copper as amask.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 16C, an insulating resin 42 is applied insuch a manner that wirings 41 are embedded therein and solidified.Incidentally, it is also possible to remove the exposed seed layer 2when the insulating resin 42 is formed.

Then, the wiring forming surface 1 a is planarized by being subjected tocutting with the tool.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 17A, the semiconductor substrate 1is fixed to the substrate support 11 by attaching the back surface 1 bto the supporting surface 11 a of the substrate support 11, for example,by vacuum suction. On this occasion, the semiconductor substrate 1 ismade uniform in thickness by the planarization processing in FIG. 15Bfor the back surface 1 b and undulations and the like are forciblyeliminated from the back surface 1 b by the attachment of the backsurface 1 b to the supporting surface 11 a by suction, whereby the backsurface 1 b becomes a reference plane for planarization of the wiringforming surface 1 a. In this state, surface layers of the wirings 41 andthe insulating resin 42 on the wiring forming surface 1 a are subjectedto machining, here cutting with the tool 10 while the semiconductorsubstrate 1 is being rotated, for example, at a rotation speedapproximately between 800 rpm and 1600 rpm and thereby planarized. As aresult of this planarization processing, a first wiring layer 51 inwhich the wirings 41 are embedded in the insulating resin 42 with theirupper surfaces being exposed is formed. Note that in FIG. 17 A, forconvenience, the surface layers of the wirings 41 and the insulatingresin 42 are shown as a continuous flat surface.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 17B, after a seed layer 19 which becomes aplating electrode is formed by sputtering on the planarized first wiringlayer 51, the photoresist 14 is applied, and by processing thephotoresist 14 by photolithography, the predetermined via pattern 14 ais formed. Then, the via pattern 14 a is filled with copper or the likeby the plating method to form the via portions 4.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 17C, after the photoresist 14 is strippedoff, the seed layer 19 is removed, for example, by wet etching usinghydrofluoric acid, and the insulating resin 5 is formed on the wiringforming surface 1 a so as to cover and fill up the via portions 4.

Thereafter, the wiring forming surface 1 a is subjected again to cuttingwith the tool and thereby planarized.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 18A, the semiconductor substrate 1is fixed to the substrate support 11 by attaching the back surface 1 bto the supporting surface 11 a of the substrate support 11, for example,by vacuum suction. On this occasion, similarly to the above, the backsurface 1 b becomes a reference plane for the planarization of thewiring forming surface 1 a. In this state, surface layers of the viaportions 4 and the insulating resin 5 on the wiring forming surface 1 aare planarized by being subjected to machining, here cutting with thetool 10. As a result of this planarization processing, a via layer 21whose thickness is uniformed and in which the via portions 4 areembedded in the insulating resin 5 with their upper surfaces beingexposed is formed. Incidentally, in actuality, the surface layers of thevia portions 4 and the insulating film 5 are planarized only after thecutting with the tool 10, but in FIG. 18A, for convenience in theillustration, the surfaces of the via portions 4 and the insulating film5 which the tool 10 has not yet passed are also shown as a continuousflat surface.

Then, as shown in FIG. 18B, after a copper film is deposited on surfacesof the planarized via portions 4 and the insulating resin 5 by thesputtering method to form the seed layer 6, the photoresist 15 isapplied, and by processing this photoresist 15 by photolithography, thepredetermined wiring pattern 15 a is formed. Then, with the seed layer 6as an electrode, the wirings 7 which fills up the wiring pattern 15 a ofthe photoresist 15 are formed by the plating method.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 18C, after the photoresist 15 is removed,for example, using the alkaline stripping solution, the photoresist 16is applied onto the wirings 7 so that the wirings 7 are embeddedtherein, and by processing this photoresist 16 by photolithography, thepredetermined via pattern 16 a is formed. Copper or the like is embeddedin the via pattern 16 a by the plating method to form the via portions8.

Then, as shown in FIG. 19A, after the photoresist 16 is stripped off,the seed layer 6 is removed, for example, by wet etching using thehydrofluoric acid, and the insulating resin 9 is formed on the wiringforming surface 1 a so as to cover and fill up the wirings 7 and the viaportions 8.

Thereafter, the wiring forming surface 1 a is planarized by beingsubjected again to cutting with the tool.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 19B, the semiconductor substrate 1is fixed to the substrate support 11 by attaching the back surface 1 bto the supporting surface 11 a of the substrate support 11, for example,by vacuum suction. On this occasion, similarly to the above, the backsurface 1 b becomes a reference plane for the planarization of thewiring forming surface 1 a. In this state, surface layers of the viaportions 8 and the insulating resin 9 on the wiring forming surface 1 aare planarized by being subjected to machining, here cutting with thetool 10. As a result of this planarization processing, a second wiringlayer 52 whose thickness is uniformed and in which the wirings 7 and thevia portions 8 connected thereto are embedded in the insulating resin 9so that upper surfaces of the via portions 8 are exposed is formed. Notethat in FIG. 19B, for convenience in the illustration, the surfacelayers of the via portions 8 and the insulating film 9 are shown as acontinuous flat surface.

Then, as shown in FIG. 19C, in the same manner as the formation of thesecond wiring layer 52, that is, by undergoing the same series ofprocesses as in FIG. 18B, FIG. 18C, FIG. 19A, and FIG. 19B severaltimes, a stacked structure in which wirings and via portions connectedthereto are embedded in insulating resins is formed. A third wiringlayer 53 whose thickness is uniformed and in which wirings 31 and viaportions 32 connected thereto are embedded in an insulating resin 33 andwirings 34 formed on this third wiring layer 53 are shown as an example.

Thereafter, through the formation of a protective film (not shown) whichcovers the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate 1, asemiconductor device having the element region 303 (including plural MOStransistors 304) and a multilayer wiring structure is finished on thesemiconductor substrate 1.

In this embodiment, after the back surface 1 b of the semiconductorsubstrate 1 is first subjected to planarization processing with thewiring forming surface 1 a as a reference, based on this, the via layer21 and the respective wiring layers 51 to 53 each having a uniformthickness are formed in sequence on the wiring forming surface 1 a withthe back surface 1 b as a reference, and hence even if many wiringlayers are further stacked, a fine wiring structure is realized withoutimpairing flatness while the occurrence of irregularities is prevented.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, variations in thethickness of the semiconductor substrate 1 are made uniform, and withoutdisadvantages such as dishing and any limitation on a wiring design,high-speed planarization becomes possible easily and inexpensively,which makes it possible to easily and finely realize a semiconductordevice including a fine multilayer wiring structure.

Incidentally, in this embodiment, an explanation is given regarding onesemiconductor substrate, but it is also possible to perform respectiveprocesses of this embodiment on plural semiconductor substrates whichcompose a lot to make the thicknesses of the respective semiconductorsubstrates uniform. Consequently, for example, it becomes possible toperform processing such as cutting on respective substrates in one andthe same lot under the same condition.

MODIFICATION EXAMPLE

A modification example of this embodiment will be described below.

In this modification example, trace processing of a cutting surface isadded in the cutting process with the tool explained in the secondembodiment. An outline of this trace processing is shown in FIG. 21.

In the cutting with the tool according to the second embodiment, cuttingin a wide range can be performed at low cost, in a short time, and withan extremely high degree of precision (nano-order flat roughness).

However, in this case, chippings are produced in cutting and sometimesadhere to the cutting surface. Out of insulating layers and wirings(including via portions) to be cut, chippings from an insulatingmaterial only adhere to the cutting surface by static electricity andtherefore can be easily removed after cutting, but chippings from awiring material, especially Au, are bonded to the cutting surface oncethey adhere thereto, and cannot be easily removed by cleaning or thelike. This causes a surface shape in which chippings having a size fromseveral μm to a few tens of μm adhere to the cutting surface with highflatness of nano-order roughness, which causes a possibility ofhindering the planarization processing. This becomes remarkableespecially when the wiring material is Au as described above, but Cu, analloy thereof, or the like also becomes a problem.

In this modification example, in a cutting process with a tool, after aflat cutting surface is formed by cutting, the cutting surface is tracedagain with this tool in the same position (zero cut) as in theaforementioned cutting. Because of zero cut, chippings adhering to thecutting surface can be surely removed with few new chippings beingproduced.

However, it is anticipated that the chippings removed by the traceprocessing adhere again to the cutting surface. To prevent this, it iseffective to spray air, water, or coolant in a feed direction of thetool at the time of this trace processing. Here, to bring the tool intocontact with the entire surface of the cutting surface, it is necessaryto set the feed speed of the tool to a speed equal to or lower than thatin cutting.

More specifically, in the cutting process shown in FIG. 17A, after thesurface layers of the wirings 41 and the insulating resin 42 on thewiring forming surface 1 a are subjected to planarization processing bybeing cut with the tool 10, as shown in FIG. 21, they are traced withthe same tool position (zero cut) as in the cutting position at the timeof finishing of the planarization processing while the semiconductorsubstrate 1 is fixed to the substrate support 11. Feed at this time isthe same as at the time of finishing, for example, 10 μm per rotation.At this time, air is sprayed on the cutting surface from an air let-offpart 93 in the same direction as in a feed direction of the tool 10 toprevent chippings 94 from adhering thereto again. Here, especially whenthe chippings are in such a state as to easily adhere, in place of air,water, coolant, or the like may be sprayed at high pressure.

Note that the trace processing of this modification example is similarlyapplied also to the cutting process in FIG. 18A and the cutting processin FIG. 19B.

According to this modification example, variations in the thickness ofthe semiconductor substrate 1 are made uniform, occurrence ofundulations and warps are prevented, without disadvantages such asdishing and any limitation on a wiring design, high-speed and fineplanarization becomes possible easily and inexpensively, and further theflatness of the cutting surface is maintained by surely removingchippings at the time of planarization, which makes it possible toeasily and finely realize a semiconductor device including a finemultilayer wiring structure.

Third Embodiment

A case where a supporting base, more specifically a copper plate is usedas a substrate and a film-shaped multilayer wiring thin film used as aninterposer or the like is formed is disclosed here.

FIG. 22A to FIG. 22C and FIG. 23A to FIG. 23C are schematic sectionalviews showing a multilayer wiring substrate forming method according tothis embodiment step by step.

First, as shown in FIG. 22A, a copper plate 71, for example, having athickness of a little more than 1 mm and a diameter of 8 inches isattached, for example, to a chuck table 305 of a cutting apparatus bysuction and cut with the tool 10 made of diamond to the extent that thetool 10 abuts on the entire front surface of the copper plate 71 tothereby make the thickness of the copper plate uniform. Incidentally,chippings produced at this time are collected and used for reclaimingcopper plates.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 22B, a resist is applied onto the frontsurface of the copper plate 71 and processed by photolithography tothereby form a first-layer wiring pattern. L/S of the wiring pattern atthis time is, for example, 5 μm/5 μm. Then, with the copper plate 71 asa seed layer, wirings 72 are formed by electrolytic plating. Here, aprotective film (not shown) is affixed to a back surface of the copperfilm 71 to prevent the adhesion of the plating thereto. After this, theresist is removed.

Subsequently, a via pattern is formed by the resist, and similarly tothe above, with the copper plate 71 as a seed layer, via posts 73 havinga height of approximately 12 μm and a diameter of approximately 10 μmare formed by electroplating. Also in this case, a protective film (notshown) is affixed to the back surface of the copper plate 71 to preventthe adhesion of the plating thereto. Thereafter, the resist is removed.

Then, after a polyimide precursor (for example, the product name PI2611manufactured by HD Microsystem) is applied by spin coating so as to fillup the wirings 72 and the via posts 73, it is cured by heating, forexample, at a temperature increase rate of 2° C./min from 370° C. tothereby form a resin film 74. Thereafter, a hole which reaches the frontsurface of the copper plate 71 is bored in a part of the resin film 74by a laser beam.

Thereafter, the copper plate 71 is mounted on the chuck table 305 withits back surface downward, the depth of the aforementioned hole ismeasured, the resin film 74 is planarized by cutting with the tool 10 toa height of approximately 10 μm from the front surface of the copperplate 71 to form a first wiring layer 81 having a uniform thickness inwhich the wirings 72 and the via posts 73 are embedded in the resin film74. Here, upper surfaces of the via posts 73 are exposed from a surfaceof the wiring layer 81. Cutting conditions at this time are, forexample, a rotation speed of 1000 rpm, a feed speed of 3 mm/min, a rakeangle of the tool 10 of 10°, and a cutting amount of 1 μm.

Subsequently, after a seed layer (which is a stacked film of Cr/Cr andits thickness is approximately 100 nm/300 nm) is formed by thesputtering method, as shown in FIG. 22C, in the same manner as above,wirings 75 and via posts 76 are formed in a pattern. After the resist isremoved, the seed layer is removed by etching.

Then, in the same manner as above, after the aforementioned polyimideprecursor is applied by spin coating so as to fill up the wirings 75 andthe via posts 76, it is cured by heating, for example, at a temperatureincrease rate of 2° C./min from 370° C. to thereby form a resin film 77.Thereafter, a hole which reaches the front surface of the copper plate71 is bored in a part of the resin film 77 by a laser beam.

Thereafter, the copper plate 71 is mounted on the chuck table 305 withits back surface downward, the depth of the aforementioned hole ismeasured, the resin film 77 is planarized by cutting with the tool 10 toa height of 10 μm from the front surface of the copper plate 71 to forma second wiring layer 82 having a uniform thickness in which the wirings75 and the via posts 76 are embedded in the resin film 77. Here, uppersurfaces of the via posts 76 are exposed from a surface of the wiringlayer 82.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 23A, by repeatedly performing theaforementioned wiring layer forming process, a multilayer wiring thinfilm composed of a desired number of wiring layers is formed. Afterthis, a protective layer made of polyimide with a thickness ofapproximately 13 μm is formed. After vias 78 are formed in anypositions, the protective layer is planarized by cutting with the tool10 so as to have a thickness of approximately 10 μm. In the exampleshown, a multilayer wiring thin film 80 composed of three wiring layers,in the uppermost wiring layer of which only the vias 78 are formed inits surface by the aforementioned cutting with the tool 10, is shown asan example. Incidentally, in the example shown, a portion of theprotective layer which is cut so as to have a thickness of approximately10 μm is shown by a broken line.

Then, as shown in FIG. 23B, the copper film 71 is placed on the chucktable 305 with the protective layer downward and removed by cutting withthe tool 10, leaving only a thickness of 0.5 μm. Incidentally chippingsproduced at this time are collected and used for reclaiming copperplates.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 23C, the left copper plate 71 is removed byetching to finish the film-shaped multilayer wiring thin film 80.

Note that in this embodiment, it is also possible that before being cut,the copper plate 71 is previously diced to a depth slightly deeper thanthe wiring layer to make the wiring layer chips.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the multilayerwiring thin film is obtained as a single body by finally removing thesupporting base, it is possible to easily perform fine control ofthicknesses of respective wiring layers composing the multilayer wiringthin film 80 and remove the copper plate 71 efficiently and easily atlow cost, resulting in the realization of the multilayer wiring thinfilm having a fine wiring structure, for example, with a via diameterapproximately between 5 μm and 10 mμ and a L/S between 5 μm/5 μm and 20μm/20 μm.

Fourth Embodiment

A case where a supporting base, more specifically a copper plate is usedas a substrate and a film-shaped multilayer wiring thin film used as aninterposer or the like is formed is disclosed here as in the thirdembodiment, but a forming method of respective wiring layers isdifferent.

FIG. 24A to FIG. 24C, and FIG. 25A and FIG. 25B are schematic sectionalviews showing a multilayer wiring substrate forming method according tothis embodiment step by step.

First, as shown in FIG. 24A, the copper plate 71, for example, having athickness of a little more than 1 mm and a diameter of 8 inches isattached, for example, to the chuck table 305 of the cutting apparatusdescribed above by suction and cut with the tool 10 made of diamond tothe extent that the tool 10 abuts on the entire front surface of thecopper plate 71 to thereby make the thickness of the copper plate 71uniform. Incidentally, chippings produced at this time are collected andused for reclaiming copper plates.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 24B, a laminate film 83 made of aphotosensitive epoxy resin and having a film thickness of approximately20 μm is formed on the front surface of the copper plate 71, and byexposing and developing it, via holes 84 each having a diameter ofapproximately 20 μm are formed. After a surface of the laminate film 83is roughened by an oxidizing agent, a seed layer is formed byelectroless plating.

Subsequently, a wiring pattern (L/S=10 μm/10 μm more or less) is formedby a resist with a film thickness of approximately 10 μm, and a wiringlayer 85 is formed by electroplating and fills up the via holes 84. Onthis occasion, it does not matter that plating overhangs the resist.

Then, the copper plate 71 is mounted on the chuck table 305 with itsback surface downward, the wiring layer 85 is planarized by cutting withthe tool 10 to a height of 5 μm from the front surface of the laminatefilm 83 to form a first wiring layer 91 having a uniform thickness inwhich the via holes 84 and the wiring layer 85 filled with plating areembedded in the laminate film 83. Cutting conditions at this time are,for example, a rotation speed of 1000 rpm, a feed speed of 3 mm/min, arake angle of the tool 10 of 10°, and a cutting amount of 1 μm. Afterthis, the resist is removed, and the seed layer is removed by etching.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 24C, by repeatedly performing theaforementioned wiring layer forming process, a multilayer wiring thinfilm composed of a desired number of wiring layers is formed. Afterthis, a protective layer made of polyimide with a thickness ofapproximately 13 μm is formed. After the vias 78 are formed in anypositions by a laser, the protective layer is planarized by cutting withthe tool 10 so as to have a thickness of approximately 10 μm. In theexample shown, a multilayer wiring thin film 90 composed of three wiringlayers, in the uppermost wiring layer of which only the vias 78 areformed in its surface by the aforementioned cutting with the tool 10, isshown. Incidentally, in the example shown, a portion of the a protectivelayer which is cut so as to have a thickness of approximately 10 μm isshown by a broken line.

Then, as shown in FIG. 25A, the copper film 71 is placed on the chucktable 305 with the protective layer downward and removed by cutting withthe tool 10, leaving only a thickness of approximately 0.5 μm.Incidentally chippings produced at this time are collected and used forreclaiming copper plates.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 25B, the left copper plate 71 is patternedto form predetermined wirings 82 to finish the film-shaped multilayerwiring thin film 90.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the multilayerwiring thin film is obtained as a single body by finally removing thesupporting base, it is possible to easily perform fine control ofthicknesses of respective wiring layers composing the multilayer wiringthin film and remove the copper plate 71 efficiently and easily at lowcost, resulting in the realization of the multilayer wiring thin filmhaving a fine wiring structure, for example, with a via diameterapproximately between 5 μm and 10 mμ and a L/S between 5 μm/5 μm and 20μm/20 μm.

Incidentally, in this embodiment and a modification example thereof, theelectric conductor substrate (copper plate) is shown as an example ofthe supporting base, but the supporting base may be composed of aninsulating substrate made of resin or the like. In this case, as in thisembodiment, after the thickness of the supporting base is made uniformby cutting with a tool, a multilayer wiring thin film is formed bystacking wiring layers while planarizing them and making theirthicknesses uniform by cutting, and the supporting base is removed bycutting from its back surface. Also in this cutting, it is suitable toplanarize the supporting base leaving any given thickness and use it asan insulating layer.

Moreover, when the flexibility, so-called toughness, of resin to be cutis high as described above, the roughness of a finish surface can bereduced by setting the rake angle of a tool to 5° or more, which isadvisable.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to the present invention, considering that it is mainlydirected to machining other than CMP represented by cutting as aplanarization method, it becomes possible to make variations in thethickness of a substrate (especially, semiconductor substrate) uniformand realize high-speed planarization easily and inexpensively withoutdisadvantages such as dishing and without any limitation on a wiringdesign.

Moreover, according to the present invention, when a multilayer wiringthin film is obtained as a single body by finally removing a supportingbase, it is possible to easily perform fine control of thicknesses ofrespective wiring layers composing the multilayer wiring thin film andremove a copper plate efficiently and easily at low cost, resulting inthe realization of the multilayer wiring thin film having a fine wiringstructure.

1. A wiring substrate forming method, comprising: a first step of makinga thickness of a supporting base uniform by first machining; a secondstep of forming a wiring and an insulating film which covers the wiringon a front surface of the supporting base whose thickness is madeuniform; a third step of performing planarization processing by secondmachining in such a manner that a surface of the wiring and a surface ofthe insulating film become continuously flat to form a wiring layercomposed of the wiring and the insulating film; and a fourth step offorming a wiring thin film having a uniform thickness which includes thewiring layer by removing the supporting base.
 2. The wiring substrateforming method according to claim 1, wherein by repeating a series ofsteps composed of said second step and said third step plural timeswhile making all of thicknesses of the supporting base and therespective wiring layers uniform in the planarizization processing bythe second machining, the wiring thin film having the uniform thicknessformed by stacking a plurality of the wiring layers is formed.
 3. Thewiring substrate forming method according to claim 1, wherein the secondmachining is cutting with a tool.
 4. The wiring substrate forming methodaccording to claim 3, wherein after the cutting, a cutting surfacesubjected to the planarization processing is traced again with the toolin a same tool position as the planarization processing.
 5. The wiringsubstrate forming method according to claim 1, wherein the firstmachining is cutting with a tool.
 6. The wiring substrate forming methodaccording to claim 1, wherein in said fourth step, the supporting baseis removed by being subjected to cutting with a tool from a back surfaceof the supporting base.
 7. The wiring substrate forming method accordingto claim 6, wherein the supporting base is made of a conductivematerial.
 8. The wiring substrate forming method according to claim 7,wherein chippings produced when the supporting base is cut in saidfourth step are collected and used again for formation of the supportingbase.
 9. The wiring substrate forming method according to claim 8,further comprising, after the supporting base is planarized leaving anygiven thickness in said fourth step, a fifth step of processing thesupporting base left as a conductive layer in any given pattern.
 10. Awiring film forming method, comprising: a first step of forming a wiringand an insulating film which covers the wiring on a supporting base; asecond step of performing second machining in such a manner that asurface of the wiring and a surface of the insulating film becomecontinuously flat; and a third step of removing the supporting base. 11.The wiring thin film forming method according to claim 10, wherein thesupporting base is subjected to first machining before said first step.12. The wiring thin film forming method according to claim 10, whereinthe second machining is cutting with a tool.